Friday, September 24, 2010

The latest architectural renderings of the Charlotte 49ers' on-campus stadium were unveiled to the school's board of trustees Friday morning.

A few highlights:

-- The stadium will initially seat 15,000 and is expandable to 40,000 (seen above) or possibly to 60,000. That will presumably happen when the 49ers move from playing in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision to the Football Bowl Subdivision. The expansion would include an upper deck and expanded press box. Groundbreaking is set for May 2011.

-- The field will be artificial turf. Two natural-grass practice fields -- one 100 yards, the other 80 yards -- be adjacent to the stadium.

-- The scoreboard will not have a video screen at first, but there is space for it to expanded to include that.

-- The stadium will not have lights initially, but they will be added later.

-- The field house in the stadium's south end will, in addition to locker rooms, have an observation deck.

It looks great. Wouldn't they be more inclined to build some of the expandable parts (lights, video screen,etc) than to wait to expand everything later. It seems they should do it now when they can get the funding (maybe?) instead of years down the road when they will be taking a beating.

Agree 100% with adding a few of the "extras" now - versus three to four years later at twice the cost. Lights alone allow immediate usage of the both stadium and practice facilities, as well as flexibility for scheduling night games. Then again, UNCC is a state school and we all know much too well our states's unfortunate track record when it comes to strategic planning. Think I-485

The source of funds for this stadium will be TAXPAYER money no matter what they say. Sure they will sell bonds. But taxpayers will have to pay. Why spend money this way?

University staff and administrators are overpaid and underworked. They get paid for five days a week but many only show up for three. And then for only a few hours each day. At retirement they get four times the pay of other people in NC.

If you don't think taxpayer dollars will be used to support the football program you are clearly ignorant. Take a look at NCAA stats. The vast majority of football programs do not have revenue that matches costs. This pathetic little team in a high school stadium will be the same for decades, at least. The next time you gripe about not getting a medical school at UNC Concord Mills, go take a walk to your colossal football stadium.

According to the UNCC Chancellor Dobois (Charlotte Business Journal), there is no public funding. "It’s not paid for out of state funds... It does redirect some of your fund-raising time and energy, although the donor pools for that are distinct. Two-thirds of the people who bought Forty-Niner seat licenses had never been a member of our 49er Club, so we really grew a nice audience of support for athletics as a result of football. The students indicated they were prepared to pay the cost going forward, at least their share of it. And so they’re picking up the debt service for the building, and they’re picking up a good share of the operating costs, about half. The rest comes through ticket sales and sponsorship and fund raising."

The Dean Dome gets 1.3 million from the State budget so it can stay open. And used millions in taxpayer dollars during construction. Do you really believe Chancellor Dubois is telling the truth? The UNC-CH Chancellors certainly have NOT.

It is not a matter where the money is coming from - but how it is spend.It seems that everybody supports new sport facilities but nobody spends the same energy when teachers positions are being eliminated or schools are being closed.I hope people realize that a new arena or stadium is not the right investement for our kids.It is said that private people have to donate time and money to keeps schools going which should be the duty of the system.

I swear no matter what is built someone will always claim it's waste of money. I know plenty of 49er alumni that have wanted a football team for years and most likely the people complaining didn't even go to UNCC nor have step foot on campus.

The Sketches look great! It looks a lot like Kenan. The 49's 2011 non conference schedule needs to include a few top area High School Teams and the Panthers for a home and away game. This should help prepare them for conference games against Catawba and Pembroke.

Attention to the idiot and his comments about the Dean Dome. It was built completely with private donations and is fully self funded by basketball revenue. Additionally, the team that plays there is part of the best basketball conference in the nation which generates tens of millions of dollars for each and every school in the conference. Absolutely none of this can be said about UNC Harris Blvd and the football team.

In the future if you desire to make such uneducated statements, I suggest you think twice and do some research first.

Shut it Kath9dav, go back into your Chapel Hole, and leave us alone. Anyone that actually graduated from Carolina would not sneak around on every UNC Charlotte related article and post negative comments. If you believe you are so superior, like most who graduate from UNC-Orange County (which is a terrible excuse for an insult by the way), then you should have no reason to continually attempt to discredit us.

I'll give you JMU and UMass, but App has said they are happy at FCS (although they may be exploring FBS behind closed doors) and Richmond has no desire to move up. They just 'upgraded' to a smaller stadium that holds about 1/2 of Charlotte's planned stadium.

This is great for the University and city, yet idiots on here want to bash the University for making itself better. Don't forget folks, everyone has to start somewhere. Just because Charlotte is only 60 years old doesn't make it inferior! I can't wait in 10 years when Charlotte is running through ACC schools in football......let's face it, ACC football is pathetic, so anyone on here from the ACC talking shit about Charlotte needs to take a long hard look in the mirror. We'll be with the big boys someday soon. We're in too large of a market and have one of the largest universities in the Southeast not to be attractive to a big conference. Just wait fuckers. Your time is coming!

Hi David. Thanks for posting the drawings. They look promising. In all of the discussion about UNCC football, I haven't heard (or maybe I just haven't seen it) if they've chosen a location for the field(s). Do you know where they are planning to build? I had heard rumors that there was consideration for space near I-485 and Hwy 49 but I haven't heard any more on that and that seems like such a long way from campus. Thanks.

I helped pay for football at CHARLOTTE. It was not tax money. I am paying $1000 per seat for seating rights; not including tickets. What other school is paying for the right to buy tickets to a college football game? We want football and we will have it! NINER NATION!!!

How about some of the OVERPAID and UNACHEIVING professors/administrators give up some of their salary for this stadium. Professors, you can afford it, after all I, as a tax payer, pay YOUR salary and EVERY year, without fail, my taxes go up and college tuition go up. It is time YOU give back something from the community YOU take from. BTW- I could care less about YOU. Most of you are WAY over pay and WAY underworked. We could care LESS your education level. After all, those who can, do, and those who can't, TEACH!

Thank Dubois - we get college football. The students have been waiting for this for YEARS. The enrollment is already skyrocketing at the college, and this will only add to those numbers. I am an 49er alumni and am currently working on a second degree there. As for those of you complaining, hush. We, the students have taken on paying a big fee for this, and with private money and sponsorships, we are moving forward. As for instructors, they did work in industry, and then got their PHD's so they can teach. This is called giving back - something commentor at 8:01 can't even fathom. Stop drinking the tea!

Stadium drawings are nice, but the Architecture program could have done them. As a UNCC grad, I disagree but have no animosity towards those who support it. It's their dime. At least you could of scheduled Elon, ASU, or Wake Forest and taken a beating and earned some respect. Campbell??????No matter, if the stadium is near capacity and the noise is half the level of an ECU home game, it'll be ok.

Anon 10:26, I am sure we will be playing some BCS team during the season who wants to demolish someone, and give us a break on the Campbell game. Georgia State played their inaugural game this year against a school that wasn't even in the NCAA. At least we are playing a school that is Division 1 FCS.

I used to let some of the negative comments bother me, but now there is nothing anyone can do to stop us from playing football. We are finally going to have the team and stadium that our university deserves. WE WON. GO NINERS!!! Lets just hope the world doesn't end in 2012 so we can live to watch them play a game, haha just kidding.

More students voted FOR football at Charlotte then voted in total on any other issue on any other campu in the state. Charlotte is also the fastest growing university in the state, it's about time the school got football. You're an idiot if you think otherwise.